Local
‘Sexual orientation,’ missing from Metro job ads
Transit agency plans to correct posters
A series of posters on Metro trains advertising job openings omitted sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority plans to make changes in job recruitment posters currently displayed on Metro trains that don’t mention that sexual orientation and gender identity are among the categories of job applicants protected from discrimination under Metro’s employment policies, a Metro spokesperson told the Washington Blade.
A series of posters on Metro trains advertising job openings for bus drivers and train operators states, “All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.”
Metro spokesperson Morgan Dye told the Blade on Tuesday that WMATA’s personnel policy includes sexual orientation and gender identity among the categories of employees that are protected from discrimination in the transit agency’s official Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statement.
“An abbreviated statement was used and will be corrected to include our full EEOC language in all future recruitment ads,” she said.
“Specifically, our EEOC statement is: ‘WMATA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal law. WMATA seeks to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities and veterans,’” according to Dye.
She said she couldn’t immediately determine whether Metro officials will leave the current series of posters in place until the job openings are filled or whether they would be replaced with “corrected” posters at an earlier time. She said she would make inquires and get back with an updated response.
Elliot Imse, a spokesperson for the D.C. Office of Human Rights, said that because Metro is an inter-jurisdictional agency it is exempt from the D.C. Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity along with other categories like race, ethnicity and religion.
Metro is governed by a board of directors appointed by officials in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, which are served by the Metro rail and bus system. Maryland, like D.C., has a human rights law that covers gays and transgender people. Virginia doesn’t have such a law.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
WorldPride events round-up
Pope Leo XIV: Family based on ‘stable union between a man and a woman’
Wes Moore signs HIV decriminalization bill
